SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY GED SEM

C / JOANA BEATRICE P. SIBAL & ALIZAH JOY CUETO 109 O2

CHAPTER 5: THE GOOD LIFE

TOPIC OUTLINE Plato’s Gorgias

1 What is a Good Life?

2 What is Human Existence

3 What is a Public Good

What is a Good Life?

One of the oldest philosophical questions

• It’s a common concern, as everyone desires a good

life and avoids a bad one.
• However, the question is intricate, requiring
philosophers to unravel its hidden complexities.
• The idea of the good life is one that needs careful
examination. • A Socratic dialogue written by Plato around 380 BC.
• The dialogue depicts a conversation between
One basic way we use the word “good’ is to express Socrates and a small group of sophists (and other
moral approval. guests) at a dinner gathering.
o Sophist: a paid teacher of philosophy and
• When we say someone is living well or has led a
rhetoric in ancient Greece, associated in
good life, we often mean they are a morally good
popular thought with moral skepticism and
person. This includes qualities like
specious reasoning.
o Courage
o Honesty • Socrates strongly argues that it's better to endure
o Trustworthiness injustice than to commit it.
o Kindness o He goes to the extreme by stating that a good
person who suffers and dies horribly is more
o Selflessness
fortunate than a corrupt individual who gains
o Generosity
wealth and power dishonestly.
o Loyalty
Platos’s Republic
• Living a good life involves not just pursuing
personal pleasure but also dedicating time to
activities benefiting others, like engaging with
family, friends, work, or voluntary efforts.
• This moral understanding of the good life,
prioritizing virtues, has been supported by
philosophers like Socrates and Plato, who valued
being virtuous over other things like pleasure,
wealth, or power.

• In Plato's Republic, the idea of Socrates is

expanded upon.
• Plato contends
o Morally good people: experience inner
harmony
o Wicked (despite their wealth and pleasures):
fundamentally in conflict with themselves
and the world.

Platos’s View

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 THE GOOD LIFE

• In both the Gorgias and the Republic, Plato • In today's Western culture, the idea of the good
supports his argument by speculating about an life is often seen as hedonistic.
afterlife where • When we say someone is "living the good life," we
o Virtuous people: rewarded typically mean they enjoy recreational pleasures
o Wicked ones: punished. like good food, wine, skiing, scuba diving, or
relaxing by the pool with a cocktail and a partner.
Religion
o This hedonistic view emphasizes subjective
• Many religions also define the good life as living experiences, defining happiness as feeling
morally according to God's laws. good and considering a happy life one filled
o Being pious, which involves following with such positive experiences.
commandments and rituals, is seen as
virtuous. SOCRATES emphasizes VIRTUE
• In most religions, such virtue is expected to be EPICURUS emphasized PLEASURE
rewarded. -- but both of them believed that you must be virtuous to
o While many may not receive immediate live a good life
rewards in this life, devout believers trust that
their piety will be rewarded, as seen in the Aristotle
confidence of Christian martyrs expecting
heaven and Hindus relying on karma for the
consequences of their actions in this or future
lives. – just like in Buddhism: reincarnation – if
you are a bad person then you’ll be
reincarnated as a worm and if you’re a good
person, you’ll be reincarnated as beautiful, rich,
etc. “being good is rewarded”

Epicurus

• Sees the good life in a more comprehensive way

• Believes that we all want to be happy
• We value many things because they are a means
to other things. For instance,
o We value money because it enables us to buy
things we want;
o We value leisure because it gives us time to
pursue our interests.
• But HAPPINESS is something we value not as a
means to some other end but for its own sake.
o It has intrinsic value rather than instrumental
value.
• Ancient Greek philosopher • So for Aristotle, the good life is a happy life.
• Straightforwardly stated that the enjoyment of • Aristotle agrees with Socrates that to live the good
pleasure is what makes life worthwhile. life one must be a morally good person.
• Pleasure is enjoyable, fun, and pleasant. This • He also agrees with Epicurus that a happy life will
perspective, known as HEDONISM, asserts that involve many and varied pleasurable experiences.
pleasure is the ultimate good and the reason for
We can’t really say someone is living the good life if they
living.
are often miserable or constantly suffering.
• While calling someone a "hedonist" may carry
some negative connotations, implying a focus on
"lower" pleasures like sex, food, drink, and sensual TODAY
indulgence. • Many people automatically think of happiness in
• Some people believed Epicurus lived a lifestyle subjectivist terms:
focused on pleasure, and even today, an o To them, a person is happy if they are
"epicure" is someone who loves food and drink. enjoying a positive state of mind, and their
o However, this misrepresents Epicureanism. life is happy if this is true for them most of the
Epicurus appreciated various pleasures but time.
insisted that a good life must also be
virtuous, aligning with Plato on this point.

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Michael Soupios and Panos Mourdoukoutas 6. Avoid Live life in harmony and balance.
Excess Avoid excesses. Even good
things, pursued or attained
without moderation, can become
a source of misery and suffering.

7. Be a Approach yourself with honesty

Responsible and thoroughness; maintain a
Human Being. kind of spiritual hygiene; stop the
blame-shifting for your errors and
shortcomings.

8. Don’t Be a Prosperity by itself is not a cure-

Prosperous all against an ill-led life and may
Fool. be a source of dangerous
foolishness. Money is a
necessary but not a sufficient
• wrote a book entitled The Ten Golden Rules on condition for the good life, for
Living a Good Life where they extracted “ancient happiness and wisdom.
wisdom from the Greek philosophers on living the
good life” and mapped it into modern times. 9. Don’t Do Evildoing is a dangerous habit, a
Evil to Others. kind of reflex too quickly resorted
The Ten Golden Rules on Living A Good Life to and too easily justified that has
-- summary of what was written, extracted from a Forbes a lasting and damaging effect
article written by Dr. Mourdoukoutas: upon the quest for the good life.
1. Examine life, Examine life, engage life with a Harming others claims two
engage life vengeance; always search for victims—the receiver of the
with a new pleasures and new harm, and the victimizer, the
vengeance destinies to reach with your one who does harm.
mind.
10. Kindness Kindness to others is a good habit
2. Worry only The things that can be influenced towards others that supports and reinforces the
about the and changed by your actions, not tends to be quest for the good life. Helping
things that are about the things that are beyond rewarded. others bestows a sense of
in your your capacity to direct or alter. satisfaction that has two
control. beneficiaries—the beneficiary,
the receiver of the help, and the
3. Treasure The reciprocal attachment that
benefactor, the one who provides
Friendship fills the need for affiliation.
the help.
Friendship cannot be acquired in
the marketplace, but must be
nurtured and treasured in What is Human Existence?
relations permeated with trust and Existence
amity. • The purpose of existence comes from thinking about
4. Experience Avoid shallow and transient philosophy, religion, and science, exploring topics
True Pleasure. pleasures. Keep your life simple. like
Seek calming pleasures that o social connections
contribute to peace of mind. True o consciousness
pleasure is disciplined and o happiness
restrained • Other important issues include
o symbolic meaning
5. Master Don't let external influences limit o ontology: a branch of metaphysics, which is a
Yourself your thinking and actions. Be branch of philosophy that deals with studying
honest with yourself, avoiding being, existence, and reality
beliefs that are only convenient o value
for you. True freedom involves an o purpose
internal struggle against negative o ethics
thoughts and spiritual forces that o good and evil
hinder a healthy life. Achieving o free will
self-control requires being o the existence of one or multiple gods
brutally honest with yourself. o ideas about God, the soul, and life after death

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ARISTOTLE • Government
Philosophers have sought to uncover the meaning of corporations prioritize
existence service, although
profit is not ruled out.
• Aristotle believed that each person's life has He also discusses
a purpose. public bads like
• According to him, the goal of life is earthly corruption, pollution,
happiness or flourishing, achievable through and crimes.
reason and the development of virtue.
• Aristotle encourages individuals to use their Public Good
abilities to the fullest, finding happiness and • Benefits by its use, the communal or national public.
fulfillment in realizing their potential. • Can be perceived in 2 levels.
• Emphasizes the importance of purpose,
First Level
autonomy, and excellence in human
achievements, stating that people should take • Comes from the people themselves.
pride in being proficient at what they do. • Individuals recognize the public good as beneficial to
• Highlights our natural inclination to seek most, if not all of them
truth, pursue moral excellence, and bring • This utilitarian consideration becomes an ethical
our ideals to life through actions in the world. standard, helping the public unite through civil
society for their shared benefits.
• While individuals may think about their own selfish
PLATO gains, there's also an understanding that unless they
• Known for his idealistic belief in universals collaborate for their common welfare, the desired
• His Theory of Forms suggests that universal public good may not materialize, leading to
concepts, unlike physical objects, exist as heavenly individual suffering.
forms. • Unity (bonding together for individual interests) and
• In the Republic dialogue, Socrates discusses the subsidiarity (working together for the common good)
Form of the Good. o crucial aspects of a national public good from
• Plato's theory on justice in the soul is connected to the the community's viewpoint.
concept of happiness, which is crucial to
SECOND LEVEL
understanding life's meaning in Platonism.
Comes from the local or national government
o According to Plato, life's purpose is to
achieve the highest knowledge, represented • Assumes with the utilitarian perspective that certain
by the Idea of the Good. projects or services are desired by the public for
▪ This idea is the source of utility and their common welfare, viewing them as public
value for all good and just things. goods.
• Examples include
▪ national defense
What is a Public Good?
▪ education
• A Filipino philosopher
▪ public health
• Argues that the
▪ ports/airports and highways
concept of the public ▪ social services
good primarily has a ▪ postal services, and more.
politico-ethical
meaning,
encompassing
politico-ethical
senses.
• The public good
benefits the general
Rolando Griplado public, pursued by
o government with
a service focus
o private
corporations
with a profit focus
• Mentions mixed public
goods pursued by
private
organizations with a
service motive

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